Breathtaking

Not just the image below, but the story of the couple and their love.

Meghan McSweeney, feat. on Southern Weddings

I don't quite feel like those are the right words.... And I don't think I have them. It's just a feeling I have, that's this mix of awe of their love, and handling his terminal cancer, and the sadness {understatement} with wondering they're so young, how can he have terminal cancer? Here's to wishing as many blessings to the Nabilis as possible.

Happy Monday!

(c) Derrick Gomez, with Glasshouse Assignment representatives

so what i need right now

(via papertissue)

The Best Secrets

via adwriter @ flickr

Fave Joanna of A Cup of Jo has just finished a fabulous series by guest bloggers while she was celebrating her newly wedded life: Our Secrets to a Happy Marriage! The *bestest* people are guesting, like crazy amazing photographers Jesse and Whitney of Our Labor of Love, the ever-inspirational Stephanie Nielsen of the Nie Nie Dialogues, and Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge!

My fave piece of advice, though, was def by Anna Bond of Rifle Design:

"Love your other how they need to be loved, not how you need to be."

ajpscs @ flickr

A friend told me this simple mantra, saying that it had transformed his parents' marriage. It has stuck with me ever since. It makes so much sense and yet is so easy to forget because I think by nature we tend to be pretty selfish. Love is selfless, though, and what truly makes me happy is when my husband is happy. So, a key to a good marriage is trying your best to focus on what your significant other needs you to be to him, instead of what you want him to be to you.

P.S. Nathan told me I should write, "Have drunken sex as often as you can." Ha.



Perfect advice. All of it :D

Words of Wisdom #5

{ChicDowntown}

Pay off your credit cards every month.

-Regina Brett

PS: I seriously enjoyed this movie. And Isla Fisher is *so* pretty!

Words of Wisdom #4

{nhussein}

Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
-Regina Brett

Words of Wisdom #3

{kalandrakas}

Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
-Regina Brett

Words of Wisdom #2

{Yaki Tsaig}

When in doubt, just take the next small step.
-Regina Brett

Words of Wisdom #1

So, I love that Simply Hue is doing a Monday inspiration series. As I mentioned yesterday, I've been feeling a little uninspired as of late. But -- my mother-in-law just forwarded a super cute list of 45 lessons from 2009 Pulitzer Prize-finalist for Commentary Regina Brett,* an Ohio columnist.

Anyway, to help all of us, I'll kickstart our Monday mornings together with one of these lessons. Though, hmm, Regina's site says there's 50. Well, regardless -- looks like we've got a fun year of Monday morning lessons together ahead of us ;) If you're a bit impatient, I don't blame you -- here's one for now, and you can find the rest here.

Lesson 1: Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

{geoftheref, Kids in Iringa, Tanzania}

I'm always blown away when I see photos of happy kids, especially ones where you'd think there's no way happiness could prevail -- over poverty, hunger, lack of running water, etc. But somehow, happiness wins -- maybe in small parts, but it still does -- especially in these smiles.

Amazing.

*Funny, the forward I received said she was 90, but Regina's website (with a very young-looking photo) has a huge bolded disclaimer that says, "Despite what you've read, Regina is not 90!" Hilarious.

Beautiful inspiration

Trust me, you want to take a break and enjoy this story.

Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

Actual inspiration

(Michael Wolf Photography: 100x100 Project)

I don't know much about this, but my co-worker just sent me this link to Michael Wolf's photography project featuring 100 rooms of Hong Kong's oldest public housing project. Each tenant lives in a 100x100 ft space. That's just incredible to me; absolutely stop by the project site.

From CoolHunting:

Shek Kip Mei Estate, Hong Kong's oldest public housing estate, is composed of 100 rooms, each closet-like in size at only 100 square feet and built in response to a devastating fire in the 1950s that left thousands homeless. In a new series of photographs called "100 x 100," Michael Wolf captures the residents of this housing complex who are almost enveloped by the diminishing space around them, their belongings stacked to the ceiling.

As in Wolf's earlier images of Hong Kong called "Architecture of Density," this series presents an alternate and more human perspective on the socio-economic state of Hong Kong. The repetition of each resident's expression mirrors the repetition of the building and the city itself, where people struggle for space in an overpopulated urban environment and redefine the notion of "modern living." An interesting view for those of us living in large cities that require residents to live in smaller and smaller spaces.